A Nobel Scandal?

In the summer of 1967, Jocelyn Bell, a graduate student at Cambridge University's Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, discovered that a radio telescope she was monitoring had picked up some curious signals from space. She called the beat-like pulses to the attention of Astronomer Antony Hewish, the senior scientist. Hewish's team at first suspected them to be signals from an extraterrestrial civilization. But further inquiry proved that pulsars, as the signal sources were named, were actually long-sought neutron stars, small and incredibly dense collapsed stars. So significant was the discovery to the understanding of stellar evolution that Team Leader Hewish was honored as co-winner of the 1974 Nobel Prize in physics.

Last week Hewish's receipt of that award became embroiled in a bitter controversy. At a press conference at Montreal's McGill University, Britain's Sir Fred Hoyle, a noted astronomer, theoretician, science fiction writer (The Black Cloud) and scientific gadfly, had charged that Hewish "pinched" the prize for himself by failing to give Jocelyn Bell proper credit. Asked by a reporter if he considered it a scientific injustice to leave Bell out of the award, Hoyle replied: "Yes, I think it was a scientific scandal of major proportions."

Angry Retort. In Cambridge, Hewish angrily retorted that Bell's name had been associated with the discovery from the start and labeled Hoyle's charge "untrue" and "ridiculous." An expert from the Nobel awards committee, Swedish Physicist Hans Wilhelmsson said, "We would have been happy to give the prize to this other person, but there wasn't enough reason to do so." Added Caltech Astrophysicist Jesse Greenstein: "Her role was like that of a part-time newspaper correspondent who spots a big fire but doesn't -- or can't -- do anything about it."

Yet some scientists think that Hoyle has raised a valid issue that might be resolved if more information was revealed about the discovery. For example, asks Cornell Astronomer Thomas Gold: "Did Hewish first recognize that the signals were of a sidereal nature -- coming from a source that rises and sets each day with the stars rather than the sun -- or was it Miss Bell?" If so, says Gold, "she deserves a major share of the honor." For, he adds, "that realization would have been the first firm indication that the signals were coming from beyond the solar system and represented the true moment of discovery."

Now married, the mother of a two-year-old son and a part-time X-ray astronomer at the University of London, Jocelyn Bell Burnell acknowledges that she "made him [Hewish] aware of their sidereal nature and convinced him that it was worth looking into more closely." But she adds: "Nobel Prizes are based on longstanding research, not on a flash-in-the-pan observation of a research student. The award to me would have debased the prize."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.